These
twin cartoons are two of Thomas Nast's most famous anti-Tweed Ring
satires, and the latter--"Who Stole the People's Money?"--is
among the most reproduced, mimicked, and well known of all American
political cartoons.

In
July 1871, The New York
Times ran a series of news stories exposing massive corruption by
members of Tammany Hall, the Democratic political machine in New York
City run by William "Boss" Tweed. The Times had
obtained evidence that the Tweed Ring had pilfered the public's money in
the form of inflated payments to government contractors, kickbacks to
government officials, extortion, and other malfeasance.The estimated sum stolen was set at $6 million, but is today
thought to have been between $30 and $200 million.

Harper’s
Weekly and other newspapers soon joined the Times
in exposing the scandals. Of critical importance in generating popular
sentiment against the Tweed Ring were the Harper’s
Weekly cartoons of Thomas Nast, who relentlessly and memorably
caricatured the perpetrators as vultures and thieves. Nast had
been assailing the Tweed Ring for years through his creative and
powerful images, but intensified
his assault in the summer and fall of 1871. Boss
Tweed reportedly exclaimed, “I don't care a straw for your
newspaper articles; my constituents don’t know how to read, but they
can’t help seeing them damned pictures!"

In fact, the Tweed Ring tried to bribe Nast into
taking a European vacation, which the artist resolutely refused.
The contact may have been James H. Ingersoll, the focus of the top
cartoon, who was the
principal Tweed Ring bagman through whose hands much of the missing
public money passed. Most of the fraudulent vouchers uncovered by The
Times were made out to "Ingersoll & Co." and signed by
Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall and Richard Connolly, the city
comptroller. Both Nast and Ingersoll were members of the New York
National Guard's 7th Regiment, and in early August 1871, Ingersoll
reportedly told the cartoonist, "Tommy, if you will take a trip to
Europe for a year, you can have your expenses paid, and a new house will
be built ready for your return, without your paying a cent for it."

In
the top cartoon, Horace Greeley (right), editor of the New York
Tribune, has been studying the Times' detailed “Secret
Accounts/Frauds of the Tammany Ring” as he confronts Ingersoll, who
introduces the editor to an oversized Tweed.The Boss bows courteously, shielding his cowardly colleagues,
especially Mayor Hall under his hat. Beneath the boss's coat on
the right is Nathaniel Sands, a tax commissioner and Republican
associate of the ring. Peter Sweeny, head of the Public Parks Department,
grasps the boss's coat on the left, while Richard Connolly stands behind
Sweeney. Tilting his glasses upward to command a sharper view, Greeley
rephrases the question he addressed to the Mayor in a Tribune
editorial of July 25:“Who
is his [Ingersoll’s] 'CO'?” (i.e., Who does he work with?)

In the bottom cartoon, Tweed
and his cohorts are positioned appropriately in a ring (circle), with
each member denying blame by pointing an incriminating finger at the
next man. The four leaders, according to Nast, are in front
(left-right): Tweed, Sweeny, Connolly, and Hall. Tweed is
pointing at Ingersoll, whose hatband reads “Chairs,” in reference to
his chair-making trade. The unanimous refusal to take personal
responsibility is emphasized by the nondescript figure behind Hall who
is labeled “Tom, Dick & Harry." Nast's inspiration for this
cartoon may have come from a headline on the July 28 editorial page of
Greeley’s Tribune, which
read: “Widening The Circle--Fixing The Responsibility.”Nast’s famous "Who Stole the People's Money?" became
a classic visual metaphor for public figures "passing the
buck."

In late 1872, James Ingersoll
was convicted on two counts of forgery, and served two-and-a-half years
in jail. He was pardoned in April 1875 on the condition that he
turn state's evidence for a new trial
against Tweed.